Thank you to both of you. That it was not being called chocolate in the US was what felt out of step with the marketing I had read from Callebaut. And now it makes sense to me. And I am afraid that I will have to say that the marketing is out of step with the product. Of course, I guess that is what marketing is often all about...

This is what I have been wondering about all along. The packaging on the Trader Joe's product stops short of calling it's contents chocolate. I believe (I do not have a package handy) I says it is made with Ruby cocoa. The package says it contains a confectionery.
Is this really Ruby chocolate? Or is it really a product maid with Ruby chocolate? I am waiting for an authoritative answer.

Cheap is always relative. Around the Mid-Atlantic, $10 seems to be the going rate for small scale local honey. (This is what members of the local beekeeping clubs will charge). There are always much more expensive varietal honeys available, and I can usually find a beekeeper I trust who will part with a quart for as low as $5/lb.
Any cheaper than that, and I would absolutely be suspicious, at least where I live.

FlL is pretty dominant around me. They definitely aim for the lower end market, though some renovations I have seen recently suggest they are starting to aim higher. And they are not entirely bottom of the market. I have a local grocery near me that has a few good highlights, and local character going for it. When I want more, like a chance at decently fresh fruit, I spend 20 more minutes on the road to go to Food Lion. When I want good fruit, I spend 40 more minutes on the road to go to Martin's (Giant).
I am eagerly waiting for for the day that Wegmans or Trader Joe's is less than an hour away.

I would say that experimentation and record keeping is the way to go. I have been trying to "decode" coffee brewing for a while. I had a friend train with as a roaster for a very accomplished local roaster (Lexingtoncoffee.com) and experimentation was his encouragement. With lighter roasts, I often use a coarser grind, but that is only my personal call. I think it highlights the more citrusy flavors better. My standard grind is pretty fine, though. I use the inverted method, and one other thing that has improved my cup is letting it steep longer than I used to. I now use 2 minutes as my standard.

In my opinion, more worth watching than any other show of the genre recently. Is it stretching to say that a Victor in this competition is as qualified as those at the judges table. I would say certainly, if the competitors were not already so qualified. I will likely not sit at any of their tables, so I will have to let others judge. Not a bad show for a casual watch, though, and I found myself rewinding to try to catch a description I missed many times.

No one is going to be surprised by the idea that fake wine is out there. But I do not think that anyone tries to market it to a serious audience. It sounds like that could be changing, with an effort to develop artificial wine that tastes like good wine. I heard this on KCRW's Good food podcast today. I am curious what others reactions are to this. Culturally, I find the idea abhorrent. Culinarily, I am curious.
http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/good-food/the-great-tasting-menu-debate-cast-iron-skillets-grapeless-wine/grapeless-wine

Golden Corral.... My father used to take us there when I was a kid. I cannot help but slip in there every once in a while still. I always leave feeling worse for the experience. And that pretty well sums up my relationship to Ranch, too.

The other evening I borrowed an Anova from a friend and cooked up a beef tongue prepared according to Thomas Kellers Corned Beef Tongue Pain Perdu from Under Pressure. I skipped the whole pain perdu part, sliced it chilled, and warmed it in a non-stick skillet before placing on a baguette with some mayo and mustard. Amazing! The recipe called for 28 days of brining, so don't delay too long!

A quick google of "hot sauce online" shows quite a few established competitors in that niche. How would you be able to differentiate yourself? I think a broader array of offerings would be a good idea. I cannot think of any other retailer with the focus that you have named in this thread, and I would look forward to browsing such a site, just to see what has been curated.

Have to share! A few days ago a friend posted on facebook that she was getting supplies together for a craft with her kids. Only the gluesticks were nowhere to be found. After a few minutes of searching she questioned her daughter. "In the freezer." she admitted. "Why are they in the freezer?" "To harden the butter." She had emptied all the gluesticks, melted butter, then poured the melted butter into the gluestick containers with plans to use them for applying to her toast in the morning. May be another option to the butter cutter!

Recently I have been looking for a new evening beverage. I have tried several herbal teas but would really like something that I did not feel a need to add sugar to. I can find this in coffee and tea easily enough, but then there is the caffeine I have to avoid in the evening (please don't mention decaf!). I n pondering the topic, it occurred to me that one thing that tea and coffee have in common is a fermentation process that contributes to their complexity. Google tells me that rooibos is processed similarly, and that it potentially may be much better than the spiced blends I have already sampled.
So I would love some recommendations. If you drink rooibos, what is your favorite and why? And if you can tell me where to get it, so much the better! Thank you!

Thank you, Kerry. That looks like a great site! You would not happen to know if they ship to the US, do you? I could not find an indication on the site. Everything there seems to assume you live in Canada.

Ok, today I experienced the customer side of what not to do as a restaurant manager. I stopped into a local place to grab a quick sandwich for lunch, and was startled by the price. When I questioned the charge, which seemed out of line with the menu prices, the cashier responded with a reference to taxes. I accepted her response, figuring that the city must have caught this particular joint (located in an unusual location where I would not be astonished by multiple taxes applying) with several tax codes. So I commented, "Wow. 20%. They really hit you, huh?" as I payed the check. It was as she ran my credit card that she admitted that tax was only 9%. The management of the restaurant had applied a 10% surcharge to every check "instead of raising prices." There was a full sheet explanation taped to the counter, which I had not yet noticed (this being the only notice of the charge) saying that they felt their food was worth the charge, and asking people to please still tip the staff. I took a picture of the notice, to read in more detail later, but needless to say, I do not plan to return any time soon.
I have worked in restaurants similar to the one I was dining at today. I know what it is to run a small business, and frankly, this place offers a type of quickcasual local cooking not easily available where I live. But this felt deceptive. If you need to raise the prices, then raise the prices. If you want to do a service surcharge, then do so. But DO NOT try to do a surcharge without explaining the policy prominently and then ask me to tip on top of it! I cannot imagine a practice more damaging to the waitstaff, both in terms of undermining the tips they receive, and in having to deal with pissed off customers like myself. I passed on my feedback directly. I should have asked to talk to a manager to give them my feedback, but I cannot say that I am deeply enough invested in their success to bother going back to talk to them.
Anyhow, I typically tip 20-30%, but I will simply cease to patronize any place that feels like they are trying to slip something past me.